


I'll Be Home for Christmas

by serindipitysays



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, You know those cheesy made-for-tv christmas movies on Hallmark? Yeah. That's what this is.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 05:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21351307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serindipitysays/pseuds/serindipitysays
Summary: When the Doctor hears Rose's voice calling to him in a dream he can't just ignore it. Against all odds he finds himself in the parallel universe at Christmastime. The trees are decorated, the sleigh bells jingling, and all he wants for Christmas is Rose Tyler tucked up against him in front of the fireplace. With the help of some Christmas magic, and the youngest Tyler in residence, just maybe everyone will get what they want most for Christmas this year.
Relationships: Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler (mentioned), The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler, Twelfth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	I'll Be Home for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I challenged myself to write a Twelve/Rose Holiday Fluff Fest with as many holiday cliches as I could. This chapter and the next will be a bit angsty but after that prepare yourselves for all of the Hallmark holiday adorableness you can imagine. :)
> 
> HAPPY HOLIDAYS! (I know, it's only November but I didn't want to run the risk of this being late for the season!)

_Doctor._

_His name was now just a whisper on the wind. It had sounded so close just a moment before. She was calling out to him, tears evident in her voice, and he reached out with everything he had to get to her. Even after a thousand years he knew that voice. He may have forgotten her twinkling laughter or the feel of her sigh but he’d never forget the sound of his name on her lips. He ran towards her voice, his feet slipping in the freshly fallen snow as he pushed his muscles harder than he ever had before._

_Doctor. Please. I need you._

_“I’m coming!” He yelled earnestly. “I’m coming!” His feet slipped on a patch of ice and he cried out as he fell to his knees. The frozen earth felt like glass against his palms and knees as he tried to stand once more. The soles of his heavy boots slipped and he watched in horror as ice began to form where his body made contact with the ground. He cried out as he wrenched his hands from the earth, attempting to break out of the ice’s cold embrace._

_Please, don’t leave me._

_“Rose! I’m coming!” Even as he called out to the empty winter night he could feel her fading. Her voice no more than a memory as the world went silent around him. _

_He gave up trying to stand and simply crawled across the vast frozen wasteland before him. An oppressive winter night began to press in around him. It was dulling his senses and tightening his joints until it hurt to move. He could almost imagine the falling snowflakes filling up his lungs with every breath. Each exhale grew shorter, more ragged. He could feel it now, he was freezing from the inside out and he was losing the will to fight against it. He wanted to sleep. To curl up in the cold blanket of snow below him and let it embrace him forevermore. She was gone, her voice carried away with the cold winter wind. He’d failed her. He’d left her. The Doctor folded in on himself, bringing his knees up to his chest as he rested his head against the earth. He closed his eyes and he breathed a final sigh._

A scream filled the air and as the Doctor shot up in bed he quickly realized it was his own. His sheets and duvet were wrapped around him tightly, damp with sweat and nightmares. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes as images and sounds returned to him in bits and pieces. Snow. Ice. A voice. _Rose_.

In a moment his legs were thrown over the bed and he was running towards the console room. The floor was cold beneath his bare feet and he inhaled sharply._ Ice. Ice creeping up his limbs, slowing him, keeping him from her._ He shook the haunting thought away and began flipping switches and levers. Somewhere out there his Rose needed him and he’d be there. He’d find her. One way or another.

“I need you.” He said softly to the TARDIS as the memory of Rose’s voice filled his head. “Find her. _Please_. Find her.”

* * *

Days passed. Months. Years maybe. The Doctor wasn’t sure anymore. He was torn between wanting to sleep and never shutting his eyes again. When he slept he could hear an echo of her words calling to him, begging him not to leave her. Her voice was never as _real_ as it had been in his dream. It was something soft, a distant memory carried on the wind but her pain was always there, tugging at his hearts and pushing him ever forward.

He settled back in his deep leather chair and let his eyes flutter shut. He tried to focus on the memory of her laugh, her sigh, her heavy breathing as they ran from one adventure to the next but her haunting cries always interrupted his happier memories and he found himself crawling across the frozen wasteland once more. 

One thing he tried not to dwell on was _why_ she was calling out to him. He grimaced as his thoughts landed on a cold beach in Norway. It was so long ago but he knew it was one pain that would never quite heal. Twice he’d left her on that beach, once alone and once with his metacrisis self. A man that was him but so much more human than he could ever hope to be. They were supposed to be there, together. Happy. Having the one adventure the Time Lord could never have. There was no reason for her to be calling out to him now. 

He opened his eyes and glared at the TARDIS console. He ran a tired hand through his unruly gray curls. What was he doing? Risking everything to find her because he heard her in a dream. It was ridiculous. _He_ was ridiculous. He’d been traveling alone for too long and was letting his imagination get the better of him. There was no way he’d find her and even if he did, well, what then? She was supposed to be happy with his other self. What good could come of him barging in? Especially now with this new face? He really was a silly old man. 

He stood and walked down to the TARDIS console. He paced around it, passing his gaze over each button and lever, chiding himself as he did so. He knew what he should do. He should tell the TARDIS to call off the search. There was no way they’d actually succeed anyhow. She was gone, lost in another universe.

Still, a piece of him wondered if the return of Gallifrey had brought other impossibilities into reality as well. He sighed and ran his fingertips over the console. He was being foolish. There was only so much good will the universe had for him and he was positive the return of his home had been the last of it. Now he was just wasting his time. He chuckled bitterly at the thought. With heavy hearts he reached out and touched the button that would cancel the TARDIS’s search protocol.

A shock went through his fingertips as he made contact. He pulled back with a cry and cradled his injured hand in the other. “What the bloody hell was that for?” He glared at his ship as he reached out once more to hit the button.

The ship shook and tossed him to the ground just as he began to press down. Her lights were flashing and a siren began to ring shrilly through the air. He crawled onto his hands and knees and attempted to regain his footing. The cold metal of the floor felt like ice against his palms.

“Stop this!” He yelled at the ship.

He wrapped his hand around the edge of the console and attempted to pull himself back to his feet. The TARDIS shook violently again and tossed him onto his back. He coughed as the air was knocked from his chest. _Snowflakes, freezing him from the inside out._

“Please. Please, stop.” He choked out as he tried to catch his breath. In a moment all was still, all was silent. The TARDIS went dark as all of her lights in the console room turned off as if a switch had been flipped somewhere. He could feel her anger and frustration at him pressing against his mind as he rested his palm against the floor.

“I know. I know. You miss her, too. But it’s impossible. We can’t-” 

A single light flickered to life on the other side of the console. He felt the TARDIS pushing at him to move and he gripped at the railing as he brought himself to a standing position once more. He approached the display screen with apprehension. The light was blinding in the dark spaceship and he squinted as his eyes adjusted. Swirling patterns met his gaze and his mouth dropped as he read them. With trembling fingers he traced the patterns. His touch was timid, gentle, as if pressing too hard would make the image disappear. 

He laughed, more a harsh exhale of breath than anything, as he read and reread the beautiful images on the screen. It was real. Coordinates for another universe. A universe that should have been impossible to reach. _Impossible_. He grinned as he traced the symbols over and over again. Rose Tyler could eat impossible for breakfast given the chance and so, it seemed, could his beloved ship. He closed his eyes and rested his hand upon the TARDIS dematerialiser. _Please. Doctor. Don’t leave me._ With a flip of the switch the lights around the room flared to life and the TARDIS shook as it hurtled through the barrier between two universes.

“I’m coming, Rose. I’m coming.”


End file.
